As of the writing of this post, Virginia Tech has 14 scholarship OL and 2 PWO OL for the 2025 season. Nine of the scholarship and both PWO OL project at IOL while five scholarship OL project at OT. Of the 14 scholarship OL, only one, Tomas Rimac is guaranteed to exhaust his eligibility this season, while Brody Meadows and Johnny Garrett are the only other upperclassmen.
There's a lot of youth in the OL room, but potential exists.
Looking more in-depth, across all four major recruiting services, it appears the Hokies have a capable OL if they mesh well.
Looking at each individual player's best ranking, coming out of high school, there's some hope.
r-Fr Kyle Altuner was rated as highly as #4 by ESPN at IOL
r-So Layth Ghannam was rated as highly as #13 by On3 at OT
r-Sr Tomas Rimac was rated as highly as #14 by 247 at IOL
r-Fr Gavin Crawford was rated as highly as #30 by ESPN at IOL
r-Jr Johnny Garrett was rated as highly as #33 by On3 at IOL
r-Jr Brody Meadows was rated as highly as #33 by On3 at IOL
r-Fr Lucas Austin was rated as highly as #40 by 247 at OT
r-Fr Nathaniel Wright and r-So Hannes Hammer were both rated as highly as #53 by 247 and On3 respectively
r-Fr Tommy Ricard was rated as highly as #58 by ESPN at IOL
That's 3 players ranked in the Top 25, 7 in the Top 50, and 9 in the Top 60 of their respective positions. In fact, only r-So Montavious Cunningham was rated outside the Top 100 of his position. Note: r-So Jaden Muskrat was originally recruited as a DL.
If we were to go solely off of ratings, the Hokies could put together a starting OL where the average best position ranking was 20.2 and the median was 14 (Ghannam, Rimac, Altuner, Crawford, Austin), with backups being 47.8 with a median of 53. (Hammer, Garrett, Meadows, Wright, Lynch). Top 10 would see an average rating of 34th and a median of 36
2026 would actually see a slight improvement to 19.8 (but a median of 24) along the highest rated 5 on the line, with the additions of Wilder (#24 OT) and Hamilton (#28 IOL), while the highest ranked 5 "backups" also moves up to 43.6 (median of 40); giving an average along the 2-deep at 31.7 and a median ranking of 31.5.
For reference, the 2024 OL starting 5 consisted of
Xavier Chaplin (#43)
Ghannam (#13)
Kaden Moore (#134)
Braelin Moore (#22)
Parker Clements (#111)
Average Rank: 64.6
Median Rank: 43
TLDR: Looking at the HS recruiting rankings of our OL, we've improved from an average rank of 64.6/median rank of 43rd per player at their position, to 20.2 with a median of 14. That's 44.4 ranks better on average and a median rank improvement of 29 places. Last year's starting OL had a worse average HS position rank than this years second highest five by 16.8 places.
If this OL performs on the field as their paper rankings would suggest, I think we'd've averaged quite a few more yards, scored quite a few more points, and probably would not have lost those one score games, and maybe, just maybe, have not lost the Clemson game, either. For those keeping track at home, that would be all of the losses from last regular season.
Comments
High school offensive line rankings are tough to trust because projecting how linemen will perform at the college level is incredibly challenging.
Scouts must evaluate how players will adapt to college weight rooms, which depends on work ethic, maturity, and physical development—traits difficult to assess at summer camps where rankings are often determined. They need to predict how a player's performance will change after gaining 40–60 pounds. Will they lose speed or fluidity? Become top-heavy? Does their new physique maintain the biomechanics needed to minimize serious injury risk?
The technical demands of the offensive line position are immense. It's arguably the most technical position in football, yet most high school linemen have poor technique. Many dominate with size rather than skill, making it hard to gauge their true potential. How well will they absorb and apply new information? Will their mental processing hinder their footwork?
Mental toughness is also critical. Offensive line play is effort-driven, requiring relentless block-finishing against college defenses. This is tough to evaluate in high school, where linemen often face little resistance.
With all of factors coming into play, it's damn near impossible to evaluate them unless it's a can't miss, 5* prospect...and in some cases, even guys with 5* evaluations end up being busts (see Rice, Zach).
Consider our two best offensive linemen this century: Christian Darrisaw and Duane Brown. Darrisaw was a 2-star recruit with only one Power 5 offer and had to grayshirt at FUMA after high school. Brown was an unheralded 3-star, 250-pound tight end in high school.
Among our "big-time" offensive line recruits over the past 20 years, only Wyatt truly panned out. The others ranged from busts to UDFAs.
I'm optimistic that Coach Moore can turn things around, but it's hard to know what we have until these players spend multiple years in a consistent program, under the same coaching staff, and actually get on the field.
I agree with all you said but, at least with the projections/ratings, they are in the correct direction.
Wasn't Teller a DL recruit? The one that had Bud doing cartwheels?
Teller was a DL recruit yes, but Bud did cartwheels for Dax Hollifield
IIRC, Teller wanted to play DL coming out of high school. He was miles head better at OL than DL in high school.
I believe the coaching staff said he could start his career playing DL. When Teller realized how big the opportunity was to switch to OL, he did it.
Since this is VT fandom, Teller never played DL here and has gone on to an all pro OL career in Cleveland, but he's a "DL". lol
247 listed him as an Edge rusher, so I don't think you can count him as a top OL recruit.
Link Here
Yes you are technically correct, he never played a down of DT at VT. But he was recruited as a DT and started his first training camp at DT before he switched to OL. Beamer prefered to have him at OL out of high school however Wyatt preferred DL - Beamer honored his wishes as a part of his commitment.
That was a multi-millionire dollar decision on Wyatt's part.
Big improvements in this group vs. the past several years - which is not a total pipe dream given (1) how bad the OL has been (2) the new coach with a positive track record and (3) lots of new players with some talent - is the one real hope I have for improvement. The irony is, we could improve a lot here and have the foundation for a brighter future and everything can still fall apart. If the rumors of Pry needing to have a winning record or getting canned are true and we go 5-7 or 6-7 and he is gone, everyone will likely be gone. Why it's so important for the team to step up this year.
And heck, we could go 9-4 and still lose most of them as they are bought out by other teams. Ugh.
Thanks for writing this up, I appreciate the honest data informed view.
This is definitely exciting, and I hate to be that guy, but it just feels like the clock is running out. If this offensive line doesn't get us to a regular season wins, I think Pry is likely (but not definitely) gone.
If the line does drastically improve, then we have to fight to keep everyone again, as offensive line is the most scarce position group and these guys are particularly young
That said, supposedly offensive lineman absolutely love Moore in our willing to follow him anywhere. If that's the case, then we better give Moore the Fontel Mines treatment
This running out of time is my biggest stomach ache. That the OL will improve a lot but with all the losses in other areas and our inability to develop a QB, we still end up 5-7 or 6-7. If that happens, what do you think the odds are that the staff stays to allow Moore time to develop the line? Assuming we do not see lots of bad coaching mistakes at the HC, OC and DC levels, so there is improvement there and that the OL is clearly better and improving throughout the year. Would we keep the staff? In the scenario above, I'd hope so. Now if we see the same mistakes at HC, OC and DC, then totally different story.
And if Pry is let go, would Moore be a possible HC to allow for OL continuity and development assuming the OL is developing. And we are willing/able to pay the key OL players, so we are setting money aside for the moment.
OL coaches are sometimes retained because of the benefits of continuity at that position. I wouldn't be surprised if a new coach retained Moore.
Hopefully that will happen. Well, really hopefully, we will go at least 7-5 and win a bowl game to finish 8-5 or better and the staff stays as they have turned the corner. With less than 7 wins and Pry gone, we hopefully still have Moore on staff. Assuming, of course, the OL shows real improvement.
Yeah I'm in the same boat. Definitely like what Matt Moore is about, but I too feel like the sun is setting quickly on the Pry era. There seems to be very little enthusiasm from the fan base and VT media this offseason. Moore and Mines are both individually great recruiters and keeping their positions stocked, but Pry overall (and particularly on defense) has struck out big time this cycle. TBH I'm expecting Montgomery to give the offense a good spark, he's a proven guy and an extremely experienced and savvy coordinator. I am still incredibly nervous about the defense - Siefkes still seems like a gamble to me. That's been probably one of the biggest frustrations of the Pry era, aside from overall bad game management and coaching. The defense for a defensive coach has been inexplicably bad.
I definitely think Montgomery and Moore will give us a coaching boost on O - but is it too little too late? And a lot is riding on Drones who has been injured and really struggled last year. Will he thrive in this new system? Will injuries continue to hamper him?
I have to see something on the field first. I can't get remotely excited by the offseason hype machine at this point. We've been burned too many times.
This is my only concern. The OL room looks to be (hopefully) improved, and we currently have our best OL recruiting class on paper in many years (still got to get them signed, of course). However, if we don't turn it around this year, and Pry gets fired, it's probably impossible to tell how many, if any, of these guys we manage to keep, and thus the long-term prognostication of the OL room goes out the window.
So that brings us back to the key part here: We brought in a bunch of OL guys for this year, a bunch of backs, and have Drones back (hopefully, fully healthy), so if we can show immediate, significant improvement on the OL, it will probably lead to a season where Pry keeps his job and we can move forward. Ultimately, it all comes back to what we already know -- that this season is critical for Pry's future.
"However, if we don't turn it around this year, and Pry gets fired"- Vegas has the O/U at 6.5. We could get the worst case scenario- 7 blah wins, no good wins and Pry stays. I personally dont consider 7 wins a turnaround but Whit probably does.
I don't view it as a turnaround season either, but the sad fact is that 7 blah regular season wins would be the best regular season since 2019 and in our top 5 seasons since 2012.
Dang, that is indeed a sad fact.
God damn that's sobering
Yes, 1. Beamer stayed too long because he kept to his rule... a good QB and a good kicker. He should have retired sooner- and may in fact have had the biased Michigan refs not fucked Danny Coale. 2. The logic of pairing an "offensive" coach with Bud Foster failed miserably, because the guy could draw up a play but not run a P4 program. 3. On the heels of those, you hire a guy that's never been a head coach before. The result is a decade of ass. If it continues, the program will die on the vine until we strike lightning with the next defensive genius and Mike Vick.
I totally agree with your first point. Had Beamer won maybe 1-2 more BCS bowls I too think he would have been more inclined to step away while on top rather than seeing the program stagnate and decline under his watch. If we had won that Sugar Bowl against Michigan I could see a compelling argument for him to step away sooner.
But regardless, the powers that be institutionally at the VTAD had/still have no clue how to operate or modernize this program post-Beamer. So we would have still ended up at the same turd result IMHO, because your point 2 would have still happened.
The only common threads from Beamer to Fuente to Pry are: Whit, Ballein, Bruce Garnes- who works for Mike Young, and Bud being a consultant/around the program. If I were AD, I might start there in terms of transformational change.
Completely forgot about the Boosters
Maybe, but it would have been a different offensive coach, so not necessarily the turd sandwich that was Fuente. I still stand on the fact that an offensive coach plus Foster is a winning combination, so long as the head coach doesn't shit the bed programmatically.
As a side note, has any P4/P5 head coach in recent memory, other than Fu, gotten fired and then completely fallen off the face of the Earth? As in not even an assistant/position coach job, not coaching anywhere at all? I know some have taken a year or two hiatus in broadcasting or what have you, but I can't think of any other major coach who has just flat out retired after being let go at his age.
Absolutely unreal.
I think the VT experience soured Fu. I think he miscalculated the job. He thought that taking over for Beamer, keeping Bud he would step into a TCU type situation and not miss a beat. VT had 1000 times better fans and facilities than Memphis and I honestly think he thought it would be easy to win here. I think he's beaten down a bit- and still getting paid by VT- so why not lay low.
Jeremy Pruitt? But he has a 6 year show cause.
Mark Helfrich is close but I think he is in boradcasting.
Darrell Hazell is close had a job as vikings WR coach for a year afterwards then hasn't done anything.
I couldn't think of anyone 100% like Fuente, but he was just smart enough to be happy at home with his family instead of going to Minnesota to coach WRs for a year.
This - most coaches just aren't wired this way.
I think of thing that worked against Fuente is that he's an introvert and doesn't crave attention. Fuente seamed like he'd rather watch film than talk to people which is opposite of Pry. Most head coaches are more extroverted, even Leech seemed like he liked talking to the media. So broadcasting makes sense.
In addition, its only been 10-20 years that a HC could retire after a short stint at a P4 job. We probably paid Fuente more than we paid Beamer woth salaries exploding. That's $32m for Fuente in 6 years and maybe $30 mil for Frank in what 28 years? Pry will have made ~$17 mil after this season and if we fire him then he is owned another almost $7m. Just 10 years earlier Larry Fedora started at UNC and they paid him around $20m when he got let go with 4 years left and coached for 7. Pry could make 20% more by coaching less than Larry had left on his contract. If it wasn't for Butch Davis issues Larry's contract would have only been 5 years for max $8.5m. If he had messed that up in 3 years he would have been looking at more like $6-7m which is great until you see coached have multi million dollar homes and agents to pay and that nest egg looks more $1m savings in that time period, which isnt enough with kid in school or wanting to travel alot when retired at 50.
I think we might see more coaches go the Fuente route just because they can but it don't be a large number.
Leech loved talking to the media and I think most liked talking to him. He just almost never talked to them about football. Pirates, law, whatever he was reading that week were his topics of choice. I miss the Lawyer Pirate Coach.
Yeah but Leach would have hated a broadcast job.
Edit: to put it more clearly i don't think he liked the spot light i think he liked messing with people.
If I am Pruitt, I sue the NCAA in a big way. There are literally no rules now. He should get his back pay and re-instated immediately for breaking rules. The Diego Pavia rule. Sue.
Disagree with this. First point Fuente was not a premier offensive coach when hired, he had some success yes but Odom's defense carried a few of his Memphis teams. Second a lot of Bud's defenses were shit down the stretch. 18 was terrible and 19 was nothing special, even 16 completely folded vs Syracuse and GT. Lastly when the offense and defense both worked we were amazing (16 outside of Cuse and GT, couple games in 17, few in 19)
Bud Foster didn't forget how to coach, motivate or call a defense. The players the head guy was signing were fucking trash. That's why the defense wasn't good- D2 type linebackers and zero depth. Imagine if it wasn't Bud coaching them?
Agree again here. Do we not remember the 30,000 RBs and WRs that never saw any tread or snaps at all on the roster, over getting quality defensive depth?
But we needed 18 WRs so that when we ran 300 offensive snaps a game we could keep them fresh. What's that? You don't get 300 snaps with exlcusively 3 and outs???
Fact of the matter is that Bryan Stinespring was a much better OC than Brad Cornelson- so that tells you where our offense has been for the better part of 30 years. Its endemic at this point. so now lets see if Tulsa's coach - who moved the ball up and down the field at will at times - is any better. I have my doubts.
I am really optimistic about the new coordinators.. question is do they have the time and the players
This was the story that SP+ told, but the media was telling a very different story - Fuente was considered a 'QB Whisper' having putting Paxton Lynch and Andy Dalton both in the draft in a half decade period.
Going of SP+, 2016 was a top 20 defense. 2017 was the 9th best defense. 2019 was his second worse defense ever, just inside the top 40. 2018 was his worst defense ever.
The 2019 Defense was the best defense we've had since.
Bud is an all time great, and we grade him against himself.
I have a really hard time believing the 18 defense was in the top 40, is that correct? The season with the GT game where they scored at will, the Pitt absolute beatdown maybe the most embarrassing game I've ever seen, ODU putting up 600 yards with the backup QB. Like how is it even possible for that defense to sniff the top half of D1
There is an advanced stat out there that shows pry is good in close games I'm sure.
There probably is. I mean I remember people showing advanced stats that said Stinespring had good offenses. As a scientist by training, I know you are supposed to listen to the numbers, but yes, numbers sometimes do lie. Anyone who watched those years knows that Stinespring sucked as an offensive coordinator after (I think it was) his first year.
Stiney had a top 10 offense in 2009 and top 30 offenses in 2010 and 2011. Every other offense was outside the top 50, with a few outside the top 75.
I think we could've done better than Stiney, and I desperately wanted him fired, but I think he got as much hate as he did because we basically never lost a game 34-31.
Pretty much every time we lost, you could say "well, the defense did enough to keep us in it."
Bud was flat out dominant in many of our wins, Stiney was rarely dominant in ours. Nobody was going to advocate for Frank or Bud to get fired, so Stiney got 100% of the vitriol after a loss.
We absolutely could have, regardless of what StineyDraw48 would've told you. Former player shmormer player, I do not miss that dude.
i miss literally everyone who doesnt post here any more, even if they drove me absolutely nuts while they were around
I miss MacGruber. Everything ended up in a butt/poop/fart reference but he was a good guy.
I feel like I've said this before but for the longest time I thought MacGruber and
BenderHe Who Shall Not Be Named were the same person.I do miss MacGruber having "Waho's[Wahoos] suck" in his signature though. Yes, it made him look uneducated as all get out. But every time I saw it, my brain would go heh heh, Wayhoes suck in spite of itself
You're a bigger person than me, then. The ones who crossed the line with me, let the door hit 'em where the dog bit 'em.
I'll be nice and not ask if you'd have felt this way about Alum if he'd been permabanned last fall
Literally everyone -- tjbhokie? Outoftowner? Leonard who just absolutely could not turn every single covid thread political? All of em
2019 was 40. 2018 was his worst ever.
And as someone who personally witnessed a future priest throw for 500 yards against that defense, I'd say it checks out.
Future.....priest?
Yes the quarterback that the 2018 Hokies made look like Dan Marino quit football to join the seminary.
If Whit was serious about football, Fu is fired after that game. But everyone on here knows and continues to be reminded that Whit is not serious about football
I was at the infamous 2019 Duke game and between the results and flubbing the '99 team celebration, I thought he had coached his last game as I was leaving Lane that night
I thought if we would have went down to Miami right after that and lost/been blown out, that he was done. But I think Hooker and Jerry Kill saved him that season. If not for that little spark down the stretch I truly think something may have happened then.
Yeah, I was scratching my head on how that season happened the way it did.
I was there too. When David Cutcliffe- the nicest guy you will meet is calling trick plays up 28 in your home stadium with a crap Duke team- in football... you can't fucking coach. period.
2019 was 38th best defense. 2018 was 72nd best defense:
They don't ask how, they ask how many!
Obviously hoping he gets it turned around and this team surprises everyone this coming season. But if not, I really don't know what is going to happen with Pry. Have heard rumors that say he is squarely on the hot seat this year and has to show something or will be gone. And it makes sense - there's seemingly no way you keep a guy that you know you're parting ways with if this year goes south in his final contract year. That's just throwing away an entire year and setting you even further behind. Logic would say if the decision is made to part ways after this season, you do it after this season.
But I just don't know how you do that with the Whit situation. Whit has announced no plans to retire or step away (as has been rumored but who knows). There's no way in hell you let him make a third football coaching hire at this point. Whit would have to be going out and a new AD on his way in before you make the coaching switch. But AD searches typically take time. I honestly have no idea how this one would turn out, but if we end up with Whit leaving and an extremely lame duck Pry going into the last year of his contract in 2026 after a lousy 2025 season, I don't know how you recover from that.
I'm just hoping we can pull a rabbit out of the hat this year for everyone's sake.
I think we "know" that Brent Pry is not an elite coach- he is 1-whatever in 1 score games, lacks attention to detail, and opposing teams do great at the start of the 3rd Q- meaning he is typically being out adjusted. So we know he's not Lombardi or Saban. So is he a great or even better than average recruiter? unfortunately not thus far. So I think we know what we have.
Let Fran Brown get frustrated by the constant uphill battle at Cuse and bring him back South. Can you imagine the talent him and Fontel could pull in?
And retain Moore. Don't make the same mistake WVU made
Oh my gosh, I just looked and he (1) is from Camden, 5-10 miles from where I live and (2) coached at my daughter's high school.
"After spending a year coaching at Paul VI Catholic High School, Brown joined Steve Addazio's staff at Temple as the Assistant Director of Internal Operations in 2011."
Yeah, I have my own assessment now and I'm sure many have similar. He's a great BS'er (I don't necessarily mean that as a slight or insult, he just has that grade A BS'er type gift of gab and bravado). But if there's no substance or results to back any of that up, that was bound to ring hollow sooner or later. And I think we are getting there.
Larry Fedora is my comp.
Damn that's painful, but pretty accurate. I should've trusted my intuition a little more when we hired him, my main detractor to Pry (before the coordinator hires) was that he was a visor wearer.
We could win 11 games and get a CFP spot and it'd still be impossible to know how many we manage to keep
Sadly it might be more true with 11 wins than 8.
Sad thing, with all that youth in the OL room, by the time they develop, they'll be at their second or third school.
Not trying to paint that as a knock on VT. Just the reality of college football these days
OL transfer a lot less than any other position, and it hurts their development. We're also seeing overall less high quality transfers because of revenue sharing, more teams are keeping the players they want to keep.
I want to really take a look at Pry being fired for a terrible year. He should be and that's why I just don't see it. Whit is happily not o the hit seat, some how. So why act like a big program and cut the dead weight? There is a rumor that whit said so? The sane Whit that plays his cards so close to his chest that he can't see them? When has VT not doubled down on a less than ideal hand? Hell our wrestling coach hire was basically 21 on the 6th card. I dont have confidence around any decision in the department.